Migration in the Northern Shires. 283 



greater charm even in recording them season after 

 season as the birds unfold their story with the pass- 

 ing months. For a dozen years or more we kept 

 such a record, dealing more especially with the 

 environs of Sheffield; season after season we noted 

 the arrival and departure of the migratory species, 

 the resumption and the cessation of song, the varying 

 food from month to month, the pairing and nest- 

 building, the rearing of the young; the flocking in 

 autumn, the disbanding in spring, the habits of birds 

 at nightfall, their awakening from slumber, their 

 various local movements about the country-side, 

 their actions generally in sunshine and in storm, by 

 daylight and in darkness throughout each month, 

 each week, each day, and not unfrequently each 

 hour of the twenty -four. From a store of note- 

 books which has accumulated through these long 

 years we will draw our information, that shall carry 

 the story of the birds onwards in a cycle through the 

 months from January to December. 



The northern shires are not specially remarkable 

 for avine song during the winter months, and here 

 we have a deficiency that contrasts very strongly 

 with that musical abundance of some of the southern 

 counties. As Waterton remarked long ago, our 

 three best-known perennial choristers are the Robin, 

 the Wren, and the Hedge Accentor, of which trio 

 the first is certainly the most persistent, as it is per- 



